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Thats pretty impressive that you did all that with a black pad and from the looks of it it seems like you did it W/O a DA or orbital polisher? I've done two black Subarus (an STi and WRX) and had to use Menz Intensive polish and nano polish with an orange cutting and white polishing pad respectively, so if I'm reading correctly and you did this by hand that is very impressive.

Looks good! But isnt the black pad mostly used with waxes and sealants? I use an orange pad on all the cars i've worked on which is 3. ( beginner right here )

Quote:

Originally Posted by dumpstercrusher

yea I've only waxed once with machine, but I enjoy waxing by hand. hmm, I thought the blue was for more of a finishing. Mine was all labeled when I bought mine, thats why.

If we're talking LC pads, orange is for cutting and black would be more for finishing. However, LC has a lot of pads they offer in between these and some are going to be quite similar. ....similar enough that I real only use orange, white and sometimes black depending on what Im trying to accomplish. ....I also have a couple of finer pads (like red) for LSP application but like the OP, I prefer to apply those mostly by hand.

If we're talking LC pads, orange is for cutting and black would be more for finishing. However, LC has a lot of pads they offer in between these and some are going to be quite similar. ....similar enough that I real only use orange, white and sometimes black depending on what Im trying to accomplish. ....I also have a couple of finer pads (like red) for LSP application but like the OP, I prefer to apply those mostly by hand.

what about the yellow pad? Got that pad too and used it once on a car, but I stuck with the orange because it seemed to get the swirl out better.

what about the yellow pad? Got that pad too and used it once on a car, but I stuck with the orange because it seemed to get the swirl out better.

yellow pad is for very aggressive defect removal. considering the technology available with products like optimum's hyper spray compound, the yellow pad is not necessary at this stage for anything other than the initial stages of, say, headlight correction or if you are dealing with an area on particularly hard paint. ideally on paint i don't use anything more aggro than orange pads at this point. but yellow pads will remove wetsand marks in paint rather easily using a DA - it's a rough pad!

OP, for the nooks and crannies of the engine bay, actually pretty much any area in the bay, some 3:1 to 10:1 optimum power clean and boar's hair brushes do wonders. once you give it a good initial cleaning you can upkeep it with a no rinse solution spray followed by plain water trigger spraydowns.

yellow pad is for very aggressive defect removal. considering the technology available with products like optimum's hyper spray compound, the yellow pad is not necessary at this stage for anything other than the initial stages of, say, headlight correction or if you are dealing with an area on particularly hard paint. ideally on paint i don't use anything more aggro than orange pads at this point. but yellow pads will remove wetsand marks in paint rather easily using a DA - it's a rough pad!

OP, for the nooks and crannies of the engine bay, actually pretty much any area in the bay, some 3:1 to 10:1 optimum power clean and boar's hair brushes do wonders. once you give it a good initial cleaning you can upkeep it with a no rinse solution spray followed by plain water trigger spraydowns.

Okay so u mentioned u could use the yellow for the headlights, got a polish you can use in combination for headlight restoration? Excluding the sanding part. Might as well buy individual supplies instead of buying a kit even though the pad for the kit be smaller

Okay so u mentioned u could use the yellow for the headlights, got a polish you can use in combination for headlight restoration? Excluding the sanding part. Might as well buy individual supplies instead of buying a kit even though the pad for the kit be smaller

honestly i don't even sand anymore. for the worst lights i use the yellow 4" lake country CCS pads and optimum hyper spray compound, then i usually go to a flat 4" orange pad and the same spray and work it for a while, wipe off and check my work then a white or green flat 4" pad and optimum polish. then i wipe down with isopropyl alcohol solution (20% total) and turn the lights on to make sure i got everything out to my satisfaction. if so, i put optimum opti-coat 2.0 on there - it's a permanent resin coating. you need to take care to TOTALLY wipe down with isopropyl alcohol solution before hand and make sure you don't over apply the opti-coat but if you follow the normal directions you should be a-ok. it'll prevent the headlights from getting messed up again.